§ Mr. Brightasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he will reduce the number of questions which small firms have to answer or exempt small firms from the requirement to respond to inquiries by the Business Statistics Office in connection with the inquiry into purchases by industry.
§ Mr. David MitchellAn inquiry into purchases by industry is normally held only at five-yearly intervals and the latest one is in respect of 1979. 1 reviewed the arrangements for this inquiry about 12 months ago and decided to exempt from it all firms with fewer than 50 employees. This has helped to reduce the number of forms sent out from 23,000 in 1974 to 16,000 this year.